Around Us 05-07-09

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, May 7, 2009

LUBBOCK - Police gathered a middle school student's backpack, shoes and glasses from the intersection of 79th Street and Slide Road after he was struck by a pickup Wednesday afternoon.

Nicholas Zavala, a 13-year-old Ed Irons Middle School student, was injured when he collided with a red Ford F-150 pickup truck after he failed to yield right-of-way in the crosswalk of the intersection near the middle school about 4:45 p.m., according to Lubbock police.

Lubbock police Sgt. Phil Johnson said witnesses saw Zavala running with a group of people east across Slide Road when he collided with the southbound pickup that still had a green light.

He was the only person hit and was taken to University Medical Center. Zavala remained in UMC in critical condition Wednesday night.

Lubbock Fire Department Lt. Buddy Davis said he was among several firefighters who ran to the accident from nearby Fire Station 12 after several students who were with Zavala ran to the station yelling for help.

Johnson said the truck's driver continued driving about one block before returning to the scene where he was questioned by police. - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

The 11-year-old daughter described how she changed diapers, cooked meals and prepared bottles for her six younger siblings while Gloria Ramirez did nothing.

The girl, who was 8 years old when she began taking care of the children, said her mother only paid attention to her children while they were infants.

Ramirez gave birth to twins last May and is expecting a third child since her seven children were taken from her by the state.

The daughter's testimony closed the state's case in the third day of Ramirez's trial for endangering six of her kids and injuring a seventh.

She faces up to two years in state jail for each of the endangering counts and up to 10 years in prison for the other count. Police discovered the seven children amid putrid conditions when a mortuary employee in 2007 alerted them Ramirez had miscarried a fetus and might need medical attention.

The seven children, ranging in age from 11 months to 9 years old, were kept prisoner in their home in 2000 block of Avenue L for fear of someone discovering the conditions they were living in, the daughter said.

Ramirez and her husband Anthony Moya, who faces similar charges, would not let them answer doors or speak of their living conditions.

AMARILLO - A woman's request to use a bathroom turned into a robbery Wednesday morning at an Amarillo apartment.

The woman knocked on the door of an apartment in the 1200 block of West 10th Avenue around 5:50 a.m. and asked the man living there if she could use the facilities, according to police.

Several minutes after the tenant let her in, a man forced his way into the apartment and hit the other man in the face repeatedly.

The woman took the tenant's wallet, which contained an undetermined amount of money, police said.

The woman is described as being in her mid-20s, 5-foot-2 with brown hair and wearing white clothing. Her accomplice is described as being in his 30s, 5-foot-6 and weighing 150 pounds, police said. The man was wearing a black sweater and bluejeans. - Amarillo Globe-News